{"id":2263,"date":"2018-12-06T13:58:53","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T19:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/for-your-health\/?p=2263"},"modified":"2018-12-06T15:46:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T21:46:07","slug":"from-the-dean-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/for-your-health\/2018\/12\/06\/from-the-dean-14\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Dean"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"nd-flag\"As I mentioned in last week\u2019s column, there was a lot going on in Bismarck this week. On Monday, the UND SMHS Advisory Council met in preparation for the upcoming North Dakota Legislative Assembly. There were three important items on the agenda, the first being a review of the Fifth Biennial Report of Health Issues for North Dakota<\/a>.<\/em> Mandi Peterson was on hand on behalf of the UND SMHS Healthcare Workforce Group that she heads to answer some of the questions that came up. The members of the Advisory Council expressed their gratitude for all of the efforts that went into this comprehensive effort\u2013the full report is almost 500 pages long and is chock-full of vital information regarding the state of health and health care in North Dakota.<\/p>\n

The second item was a review of the status of the UND SMHS budget for the upcoming biennium. There continue to be two major uncertainties in our budget\u2013the level of state appropriated funding (more on this subsequently) and the potential impact of the UND MIRA process (Model of Incentive-Based Resource Allocation). We really won\u2019t know the level of state appropriated funding until the higher education funding bill is signed by the governor, likely in May 2019. And the MIRA process continues to evolve. So the bottom line is that the School\u2019s actual funding level for the 2020-21 biennium won\u2019t be known for some time. Accordingly, I outlined my plan to proceed to execute the strategic plan as planned, including admitting the full contingent of students and residents we had anticipated matriculating. We simply can\u2019t operate in \u201csuspended animation\u201d until May. The Advisory Council was fully supportive of this plan.<\/p>\n

The final item on the agenda was revisiting the Quarter Each Quarter program. As you may recall, the idea was to take a group of us (student affairs folks, educators, and representatives from both medicine and the health sciences) and visit several cities and towns in one quarter of the state every three months or so (a quarter of the year). When we first discussed this, we envisioned using two vans and traveling for several days. But we put the idea on hold because of the relatively high estimated travel costs. We subsequently discussed this at our Executive Committee, and decided that we could not afford not<\/em> to take these trips. So we thought we\u2019d resurrect the idea, but take only half of the original number of participants, and thus half the travel costs. This idea was enthusiastically endorsed by the Advisory Council, so we\u2019re planning the inaugural\u00a0Quarter Each Quarter trip for the second quarter of 2019. More to come!<\/p>\n

Later that night on Monday, UND held a reception for the North Dakota legislators who were in Bismarck for a three-day pre-session in advance of the Legislative Assembly that starts on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019. It was a good chance to renew contact with prior members and meet many new members. President Kennedy and team presented a brief overview of where UND is headed under the OneUND strategic plan, and all seemed to enjoy themselves.<\/p>\n

Then, on Tuesday night, the School hosted the first of four campus holiday parties. The turnout was great, and I got to recognize and thank a number of the clinical faculty members<\/a> who help teach our medical students on the Southwest (Bismarck) campus.<\/p>\n

The most anticipated event, though, was on Wednesday, when Gov. Doug Burgum presented his Executive Budget for the 2019-21 biennium (July 1, 2019-June 30, 2021). This budget is considered a starting point for subsequent legislative action, but there were a few important takeaways:<\/p>\n